The Nightly Series
by Rees Tyrie
Summary: Merissa's life seems to change in an instant.


**The Night Series**

**1. The Black Night**

Merissa spun around in the chair as she waited for her friends to arrive. She ignored the fact that if she opened her eyes she would most likely puke. They were late, as usual and she desperately wanted out of the house, her parents were arguing again. But, of course not about the marriage, it about her school habits and where she should go to college. Merissa was an A student and a good daughter. She never broke curfew and she was always respectful of other, more so for her parents than herself.

She groaned loudly, snatching her cell phone off the table and angrily punching in her friend's number. She tapped her fingers on the desk, waiting for her to answer.

"Hello?"

"Where the fuck are you?!" she cried, the chair coming to a stop.

"Oh… Shit um…" Merissa frowned, hearing the hesitation in the girl's voice.

"What's going…" she froze the sound of a male, her boyfriend, in the background. "Alexandria Maria Chavez… You little bitch!" she screamed into the phone, snapping it shut. The phone rang again, but she ignored it. Her boyfriend had called her friend baby girl. There was no way to deny it, not at all.

She shook her head, calling another friend about going out, she told them the story and they agreed, telling her to be ready in five.

She pulled on some jeans, a nice shirt and her heels.

"Going out!" she called, running past her parents as she grabbed her purse and jacket.

"Alright, But be back by…"

"11 I know!" she cried, closing the door as she ran out.

***

The club was dark and pulsating multicolored lights where her only force of light as she pulled her friend along the wall, looking for a break in the crowed. When they found it she felt like gagging, her eyes locked on two people in the middle of the dance floor, dancing much closer than they should have been.

When she finally got closer, her temper flared and she let go of her friend's hand, stalking over to them.

"We're over… Both of you." She stormed off, pushing her way towards the exit.

***

Marissa arrived home at the normal time, with five minutes to spare until her curfew. She walked slowly up the stairs; her heel's making soft tapping sounds against the old wood of the porch, a frown apparent on her face. The lights were on but there weren't any cars in the driveway, something wasn't right. Marissa moved slowly up the stairs to the porch trying not to make any noise,

"_Is there a robbery in progress?"_ She wondered to herself as she tried to look through the stain glass window that adorned the top of the front door, she placed her hands on the dark oak wood that surrounded the door to balance herself, trying to be as quiet as possible.

She couldn't see much, but what she could see was enough. Her mother, well, the body of her mother was lying about ten feet away from the door, a pool of blood surrounding her, and a man, standing above her, a sick sadistic smile on his face. She tried to make out what he looked like, so she could call the cops, but after a few minutes she realized his face was covered with some sort of mask; a ski mask perhaps. Marissa's eyes grew wide, this man killed her mother! Marissa stepped back slowly, but her heels stepped on the crack on the porch, a loud Squeak erupting from the spot. The man's head snapped up and he smiled, Marissa turned to run, but he had her in his grip not even a minute after he heard her.

"Where do you think you're going Girly? Aren't you going to say Hello to your mother?" the man whispered in her ear. The man's breath smelled of Whiskey; he was drunk, angry and violent. She needed to get away. She pulled and pushed, trying to get away but it was no use, the man was much too strong. The man threw Marissa inside the house, onto the floor by her mother, when she looked down at her arms his handprints were still on her arms, red marks that would most likely turn into bruises.

"Ready to join your mother?" he asked her as he drew closer and closer to her with each step.

"No, Please, I beg you, please don't hurt me sir." She asked quietly, the man only laughed in response. Marissa began to crawl backwards slowly, still begging for her life. The man grabbed her violently by the hair and picked her up, slamming her against the wall.

"Shut up." He told her, his face inches from hers. "Shut up or I'll make this more painful than it has to be." He said again, grabbing her by the neck. Marissa gasped, she couldn't breathe. The man laughed and pulled a long pipe from his back pocket and lifted it as if to hit her, Marissa began to claw at his hands, desperately trying to get away. The man brought the pipe down on her head once, and she fell limp in his arms, she wasn't unconscious, he hadn't hit her that hard, but it was enough to make her pass out for a few moments.

The man, believing she was almost dead, let her body fall to the ground and began to move around the house, grabbing random items and shoving them into his bag. Marissa grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and called 911, she knew she couldn't talk so she left it on, hoping someone would come. Marissa kept her eyes half open as she watched the man walk across the room, He was going to leave! She quickly began to groan, making him turn around and move back towards her.

"You want another beating??" he asked, taking long strides across the room, he knelt down and grabbed her by the hair, bringing his face closer to hers. Marissa was about to beg for her life but something stopped her, the sound of footsteps made her smile and scream, the man put his hand over her mouth, trying to silence her, but Marissa wouldn't stop, she screamed louder as the door broke open and her father came barging in.

"Daddy No!" Marissa screamed, trying to break free from the man that was holding her down. "Daddy He will kill you!" she screamed again, trying to get the man to stay focused on her and NOT on her father. The man slapped her across the face.

"Shut up or I'll hurt your father more than I already will!" the slap made her quiet down but she continued to struggle, because she knew if she stopped moving he would move on to her father, and she couldn't let that happen.

"Daddy! Run for help!" she screamed, her father just stood there, frozen in his place. He dropped the bag of food from his hands, his eyes on his dead wife.

Marissa's eyes grew wide, she couldn't die! She just couldn't. The girl had her whole life ahead of her and she wasn't ready to die. Marissa began to struggle more violently, kicking, biting, and scratching, whatever she could do to make him let her go. Nothing worked. Marissa Screamed as loud as she could, trying to make the man let her go, but the man never let up, he slapped her, punched her, kicked her; doing anything he could to cause her pain. But she refused to let anything work, all the man could do to keep from killing her was knock her out once more. The man brought the pipe up, slamming it back down onto her head and Marissa fell limp in his arms. Was she dead? The man didn't stay to find out; he quickly dropped her to the ground and took off, leaving her there with the dead body of her mother.

Her father finally came too, running out the door after the man as he fled, Marissa was still unconscious but at least she was still breathing. The Paramedics arrived soon after her father left, running into the house with the stretchers and the medical bags. They hoisted Marissa up gently onto the stretcher and tied her down, they didn't want her to move for fear she might break her neck.

"She's a lucky one sir!" they called out to the chief as they carried her away, lifting her up into the Ambulance.

***

"Just some stitches sweetie…Not to worry." A sweet, soft voice whispered into her ear, a nurse most likely, Doctors weren't THAT nice, and besides, they were busy at the moment. They were running around her in the ER, desperately trying to stop the bleeding the second blow to her head had caused. To was fading in and out of consciousness as they worked on her mumbling feebly as she tried to figure out what happened to her father and what they were doing.

"Who would do a thing like this to such a beautiful girl?" Said a young nurse as she ran her frail fingers through her curly brown hair, it was wet, soaked with blood but that didn't stop the nurses from giving the girl some affection.

***

"Where is my daughter, I need to see my daughter!" her father almost yelled, banging his fist down on the receptionists desk.

"Sir, I need some id." The woman told him for the thousandth time.

"I don't have my fucking ID! I left it my god damn house!" he screamed, throwing his hands into the air. "Ma'am my daughter Marissa just fucking came here with a head injury, I need to see her!" he said a final time, running a hand through his graying hair.

"Alright Mr. Black, She's on the third floor, room 301B." Marissa's father smiled weakly, thanking the receptionist as he made his way to the elevator. Mr. Black fall back against the wall of the elevator as the door's closed.

"Why her? Why my wife? Why not me?" he asked himself, placing his head in his hands as he cried. Once he reached the correct floor he practically ran down the hall to his daughter's room "Oh baby, why did this have to happen, it should have been me, not you." He told her quietly, holding onto her hand as he sat on the chair beside her bed, watching her closely.

***

Marissa awoke with a scream, a nightmare of the previous night haunted her sleep, and she couldn't get it out of her mind.

"Darling, what's wrong?" Asked a nurse as she ran into the room, having heard the scream from the nurses' station, she ran to the room to investigate.

"I'm Fine, Just a nightmare." She said; closing her eyes as her breathing began to calm.

"Alright, Can I get you anything Ms. Black?" she asked her, walking over to the bedside to check her vitals.

"Some water would be nice, thank you." She said, raising the bed up so she was in a sitting position. The nurse nodded and left the room, leaving her alone once more. "God, I can't wait to leave this place, it's so…Clean." she said to herself as she leaned back against the bed, closing her eyes as she began to cough.

"Here's your water." The nurse called out as she returned, setting it on the little tray. Marissa grabbed eagerly and took a few sips, trying to sooth her itchy throat

"Thank you Miss." The nurse nodded then left the room, leaving her to think.


End file.
